


To Hell in a Handbasket

by Evenstar656



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Medical Procedures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:55:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23971183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evenstar656/pseuds/Evenstar656
Summary: Jim whipped around, sending a spike of pain through his gut.  McCoy had materialized on top of a heap of loose wooden and stone debris that had slid from underneath him as the weight of a human suddenly disturbed the pile.
Relationships: James T. Kirk/Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Comments: 18
Kudos: 166





	To Hell in a Handbasket

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers: Star Trek Into Darkness, General AOS
> 
> Disclaimer: The Star Trek franchise and its characters are property of Paramount
> 
> Author’s Notes: Just a bit of shameless h/c. As always, although I am a doctor I’m not that kind so I happily practice with my fictional degree. Could be Gen or slight McKirk depending on how you’d like to view it. 
> 
> Warnings: Graphic description of injuries and medical procedures.
> 
> I apologize for any mistakes, this was un-beta’d

_“Bridge to Captain Kirk.”_

_“Bridge to Captain Kirk.”_

The noise penetrated his brain and easily pulled him out of a fitful sleep, “Kirk here,” he replied wearily.

_“The negotiation team will be assembling in the transporter room in thirty minutes.”_

He rolled over and looked at the chronometer. It was only 0545 and he’d finally fallen asleep two hours ago after catching up on work he’d missed because of the negotiations. 

“On my way,” he tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. 

An intense burst of icy pain radiated throughout his stomach. The Kremians were enthusiastic about joining the Federation and had thrown a lavish banquet the previous night to celebrate the end of the negotiations. Despite everything on his plate having been approved by McCoy, whatever he’d been served at the banquet was not sitting well at all. A deep gurgle from the pit of his stomach threatened to expel his dinner all over himself. 

He threw the blankets off and bolted to the bathroom, making it to the toilet just in time for a multitude of colored foods from dinner to make a quick exit. It probably would have been hilarious that he was puking up a rainbow if he didn’t feel so bad. The vomiting turned into dry heaves and he was left panting with his arm on the toilet bowl rim.

The toilet flushed and he groaned as he pushed himself to his feet. There was still an unpleasant aftertaste in his mouth after brushing his teeth three times. He finished his routine and was pulling his command shirt into place as he stepped out of his quarters. His hand brushed over his abdomen and it sent a sharp stab through his gut. McCoy was going to kill him if he found out but there wasn’t time to stop by Sickbay. 

He took a deep breath before rounding the corner to the transporter room. 

“Captain,” Spock eyed Jim’s pale and sweaty face as he stepped up onto the pad. 

“Mr. Spock,” he nodded hoping to avoid eye contact. 

“I am sure you will reply with your customary ‘I’m fine’ but you look ill, Captain.” 

“I’m fi—“ he caught himself, “Something I ate last night didn’t quite agree with me, but I feel better.” 

“Is Doctor McCoy aware of your condition?”

“No, Spock, he’s not and he’s not going to know. Am I understood, Commander?” he tried to stare down the Vulcan. 

Spock started to speak, but then closed his mouth. It was a battle he was not going to win, “Yes, Captain, but if your condition deteriorates you are required to inform me so that I can take command if necessary.” 

“I’m aware of the regulations,” the reply was terse. 

“Of course, Captain.” 

Jim looked at the team assembled behind him, “Everyone ready to go?” 

The two security crewmen, an ensign from communications, and a lieutenant from the chemistry lab all gave ‘ayes’. It wasn’t the usual group for the away team, but they were all there because their department leaders had decided that they needed more field experience and these negotiations were an easy mission to let them get more experience. They had all done a great job over the last week brokering entrance into the Federation for the Kremians and Jim couldn’t be more proud of them. 

Jim did a double check of his young team before nodding to the transporter technician sitting behind the glass screen, “Energize.” 

“Aye, Captain,” the technician flipped the switches and levers to activate the swirl of golden light that surrounded the crew. 

The tingle that accompanied the transportation process never really bothered him before but this time the reorganization of all of his atoms started a wave of nausea. Jim clamped his mouth shut and took several deep breaths through his nose before stepping ahead of his team. He was sure Spock noticed but there was no way he was turning around to confirm it and open up the opportunity to be called out on it. 

It never ceased to amaze Jim at their ability to beam down to an alien world. They materialized in the same spot they had been arriving at over the past week; a small delegation of Kremians was waiting to escort them into the city and to the Hall of Government. 

The Kremians were an impressive race to behold. Despite being humanoids, they were exceptionally tall with the ‘shorter’ people reaching a height of a mere 2.5 meters and almost 3.5 meters for the taller inhabitants. If their impressive stature wasn’t enough to adsorb, their skin was a pale iridescent green color that made their large red eyes seem like fires burning in their ridged eye sockets. Jim instinctively tugged at the collar of the high-necked undershirt under his command gold tunic; the Kremians wore very little coverings in response to the hot climate. A quick glance back showed a very content Vulcan, or what he assumed Spock would look like if he were content. 

The leader of the delegation was an under secretary for the Minister and approached the group with a formal bow of welcome. She stood out from the other Kremians by the copper colored sash she wore over her sheer clothes. Jim returned the gesture first and then his crew and the rest of the delegation bowed to each other at the same time. This race of people had some unusual customs that Uhura had grilled the team on annoyingly until they had mastered the intricacies of their mannerisms. If he was being honest, it was likely due to her drilling that their talks had gone as well as they had. 

“Captain Kirk, we are honored for your presence this sol,” the under secretary welcomed them. 

“As are we, Under Secretary E’Tik,” Jim replied as he had at the start of each visit to the planet. 

Both parties rose at the same time and Jim grimaced in an effort to suppress the flare of pain in his stomach. 

“We shall take you and your team to the Great Hall.” 

“We shall follow,” Jim replied. 

The lead Kremian held out a three-digit hand to a pair of waiting ‘wagons’. Jim never could get the proper name of their vehicle but they looked like the covered wagons from old Western holovids but with gauze covers instead of canvas. He was always amazed that they levitated, above what he assumed to be some sort of magnetic track system, instead of being drawn by some of the large beasts he’d seen in a tour of the surrounding countryside. The away team took their seats along the large benches in the second vehicle while the Kremian delegation occupied the first. The two carriages were connected to each other and as the first one started, the second one was pulled along the tracks. 

“Are you sure you are well, Captain?” Spock spoke softly as to not be overheard by the other members of the crew. 

“Drop it, Spock,” Jim seethed.

“Captain, I saw two distinct instances where you were in pain.” 

“Commander, I will inform you if I am unwell and cannot continue.” 

“Yes, Captain,” Spock eyed Jim out of the corner of his eye. 

Jim turned his body away from his First Officer and occupied himself with watching the local population as they went about their daily lives as they continued along the tracks that took them to the Hall of Government. The wagons stopped in front of a set of massive steps that led to an even more massive stone building with columns that had to be at least 30 meters high. The Kremians left their wagon and approached the _Enterprise’s_ wagon and opened the door for them. 

“We have followed,” Jim said before stepping down. 

The under secretary nodded and held her hand pointing up the large steps. Given that the Kremians were several feet taller than the humans, the steps were much larger than what they were used to climbing and it took quite a bit of effort to make it to the top where another group, including the Minister, was waiting for them. 

“Captain Kirk, we are honored for your presence this sol,” the fully covered Minister welcomed them with a bow. 

“As are we, Minister,” Jim replied per the customs. 

The two groups bowed at each other after the two leaders had played their part in the welcoming. 

“Come, friends,” the Minister held out his three-digit hand. 

There was a small twinge of pain when Jim rose but his reaction didn’t reach his face and he followed the Minister in the grand building. The two walked side by side with their respective teams flanked behind them. They arrived at a massive reception room with an incredibly intricate mosaic laid out in small tiles on the floor. There wasn’t a definitive image but it was a swirl of small patterns that danced around the room from wall to wall in both directions. The large table that they had been working at over the past week had been replaced with a small desk, by their standards, that contained two rolls of parchment stretched out across the surface. 

“Captain Kirk,” the Minister stopped and turned towards the Starfleet team. 

“Minister.” 

“Twenty one sols have passed and we have made history. For the first time in all of Kremia we will formally bind ourselves with the Federation.” 

“History has been made with the Federation as well with the induction of Kremia into its system,” Jim made the correct response.

“All there is left to do is to sign and it shall be done,” the Minister gestured to the desk with the paper. 

“And we shall sign willingly.” 

Jim and Spock followed the Minister and his under secretary to the table. A Krimean approached them holding a box with two writing utensils resting inside it. One was a steel Terran pen emblazoned with the Federation logo and the other was a faceted green glass fountain pen sitting next to a jar of ink. Spock took the Terran pen and handed it to Jim while the Minister’s second in command did the same thing with their pen. 

Jim and the Minister stood at a piece of parchment and signed their names in the appropriate places. The two leaders set their pens down and switched places at the desk. Jim took up the glass pen, dipped it in the provided ink, and signed his name on the second treaty document; sealing the Federation’s commitment to its newest member. After the signatures were done, the two leaders bowed at each other. 

“On behalf of the Federation and Starfleet, I welcome you,” Jim rose. 

“On behalf of Kremia and its inhabitants I accept your welcome and in return offer a permanent welcome to you and to the Federation,” the Minister rose. 

The two copies of the signed treaty were rolled up and placed in protective sleeves. Jim was presented with one of the copies and the glass pen he used to sign the second document. 

“We would like to welcome you and your crew to refreshments in celebration of our friendship.” 

“I would—” the chirping of a communicator interrupted his response. “My apologies, Minister.” 

Jim tossed the communicator to Spock who stepped away from the group to quietly answer it. A few moments later he stepped up to the Captain’s ear and relayed the message. 

“I must apologize, Minister, but there is a situation with which we must attend to and we must depart earlier than planned.” 

“I hope it is not serious, Captain Kirk.” 

“I understand that there are more formalities to complete, but we would be most appreciative if we could be returned to our transporter site.” 

“Yes, Captain Kirk. The required documents for both of our uses have been signed and there is no further duty required of you.” 

Jim bowed deeply, ignoring another stab of pain; “I thank you, Minister, for your hospitality.” 

“And we thank you for your friendship,” the Minister bowed. 

The rest of the two groups bowed at each other before a group of Kremians escorted them from the building and back to the wagons. The journey back to their departure site was quick and filled with silence. Jim and the crew made the appropriate but quickened farewells to their newest Federation allies. 

“ _Enterprise,_ six to beam up.” 

###

The scrambling of his atoms seemed to also scramble whatever was churning in his gut, and he had to take a few breaths after the transporter deposited him and the rest of the away team onto the pad. Without even turning his head to look he knew that the Vulcan had noticed his distress. Jim quickly stepped off the pad before he could be called out on it. 

Spock easily caught up with the Captain as they headed to the Ready Room. The rest of the senior command was already assembled and were awaiting their arrival. Jim saw McCoy perk up out of the corner of his eye but he refused to look the doctor in the eyes. He took his seat at the head of the conference table and pulled a data pad towards him so he could keep his gaze averted. 

“Lieutenant?” Jim nodded in Uhura’s direction but remained looking down at the screen in front of him. 

“We’ve received a distress signal from the colony of Sabine. They’re requesting complete evacuation.” 

Jim furrowed his brow because complete evacuation requests were rare, “Did they say why?” 

“No sir, it’s a looped message on an EF band.” 

Spock tapped away at his data pad, “Starfleet records indicate a history of violent weather patterns. They’ve previously requested and received aid on multiple occasions. The colony charter indicates that this settlement was intended to be as free from technological conveniences as possible.” 

“Sounds like they’re finally callin’ it quits,” McCoy chimed in. 

Jim pulled up the incident reports on his own screen, “How far away are they?” 

“A little ower twenty four hours at warp four. Less if we increase speed,” Chekov pushed the trajectory options he had calculated to everyone’s screen. 

“How big is the colony and would we have space to hold them?” 

“Last update they sent Starfleet shows a population of 330 folks, plus or minus a few since it’s been ten years since their last census. It’ll be tight but we can probably fit them in Rec Room 2. I can get bed rolls collected for ‘em.” 

Jim processed everyone’s information at light speed, “Alright folks, I want us there in eighteen hours. Mister Sulu and Mister Chekov I want to break orbit as soon as we’re done here. Bones, you get the big rec room ready for them and I’m going to need a detailed weather update, Mister Spock, once we get close enough to start scanning. Lieutenant Uhura, keep on top of the signal and check for the usual.” 

Jim stood up with a barely perceptible wince of pain and everyone else mirrored with a chorus of ‘aye sir’. 

“Dismissed,” Jim tried to dash out of the room but a firm hand around his bicep told him he’d been snared as everyone else left the room. 

“A word, _Captain_?” came an irritated drawl. 

Jim wanted to yank his arm free but the doctor’s grip was tight, “Quickly, Bones.” 

The two men were the only ones behind the closed door, and Jim’s turbulent stomach was wearing his patience thin. 

“Jim, you look like shit,” the doctor got straight to the point. 

The captain weighed his two options; neither were going to end well for him. He could fess up or try to bullshit his way out of this. 

“And don’t bullshit me either.” 

_Door number one it is._

Jim determined that his new plan was to try and downplay the situation, “I know, Bones. Whatever we had last night at the banquet isn’t sitting so well.” 

The grip on his bicep loosened enough he could free himself and see that McCoy’s eyebrow was arched with skepticism. 

“Let’s go to sickbay and let me take a quick look.” 

“Bones, seriously. I do not need to come to sickbay for every little thing. There’s nothing you can do other than letting me finish getting out of my system.” 

“I know, kid, but I can at least give you something to make ya less miserable. Both ends?” 

Jim rolled his eyes and retreated towards the door, “If it gets worse I’ll come and see you.” 

“In a pig’s eye,” McCoy stayed close on the captain’s heels.

Jim clapped the man on his arm, “Bones, trust me, it’s not that bad. Don’t get all mother hen on me over my stomach’s dumb disagreement with dinner.” 

“Jim—“ 

Jim’s temper was about to short out and he readied his aim to hit below the belt, “I’m sure every alien food has always sat well with you, _Doctor_ McCoy?” 

McCoy took notice of the warning shot he was being given - drop it or his own particularly horrendous digestive troubles while on Thallis were going to become the new topic of conversation. There was no greater best friend than the one who would sacrifice his jacket to let you wrap around your waist after learning of an alien food intolerance the hard way. 

“Understood, Jim.” 

Jim knew what he did was low and softened his gaze. 

“Promise me you’ll take it easy on the way to Sabine?” 

“Of course, Bones.” 

“Drink plenty of fluids. I don’t want you passing out from dehydration down there.” 

“Don’t worry,” Jim left, effectively putting a stop to any further digestive discussion. 

“I always worry, kid,” McCoy knew when to give up on a losing battle and headed for the turbolift. 

### 

_“Bridge to Captain Kirk.”_

Jim lifted his head off his desk and answered the hail, “Kirk here.” 

_“We’re in orbit around Sabine.”_

“Thank you, Mister Sulu. Have the away team report to the transporter room in thirty minutes.” 

_“Aye sir.”_

He sat the rest of the way up and nearly groaned out loud from pain that rippled throughout the middle of his abdomen. This was definitely not good. He’d managed a few sips of water while reviewing the weather scans during the night, but he had been unwilling to risk any food. Of course he had no appetite from the unrelenting nausea and heartburn that gripped his system. 

“Fuck,” he pushed himself upright and a sharp stabbing pain centered itself by his navel.

He looked at the chronometer on his computer display and realized that there was no time to stop by sickbay. As long as they got this over with quickly all should be all right and he would weather the doctor’s tirade after they had the colonists safely on board. 

_Bones is literally going to murder me._

Jim managed to shuffle through his morning routine and arrive in the transporter room in a fresh uniform and combed hair. 

“Morning,” Jim nodded to Uhura and Sulu who were already waiting by the transporter pad. 

Luckily for him, his science officer was going to stay on board and monitor the violent weather patterns that plagued the colony. They were only waiting on the CMO and two crewmen from security. 

“Good morning, Captain,” Uhura eyed him suspiciously. 

“Morning, sir,” Sulu could see that Jim wanted to get this mission over with quickly. 

The security team arrived with phasers holstered to their sides. 

“Where’s Bones?” Jim asked the room. 

“I’m here!” they heard from around the door before the doctor skidded to a stop in front of the transporter technician’s station. 

“Good, let's get out of here,” Jim moved to the pad before the doctor had a chance to end things before they began. 

“Couldn’t leave without my med kit,” McCoy waved the kit for emphasis. 

The away team took their spots on the transporter pad. Jim had arranged it so that McCoy was stuck in the rear and as far away from him as possible. 

“Energize,” Jim ordered the technician behind the transparent aluminum shield. 

Jim took a deep breath before his atoms were scattered. The accompanying tingle as his atoms rematerialized sent a wave of nausea up his esophagus and he had to breathe through his nose to tamp it back into his stomach. They were supposed to have materialized in the city’s center square but he saw that they were on the side of the square near a large debris pile. He noticed that it was completely empty, not a soul in sight. 

_That’s weird._

“Fuck,” was the only noise the group heard before a large crashing sound echoed through the empty square. 

Jim whipped around, sending a spike of pain through his gut. McCoy had materialized on top of a heap of loose wooden and stone debris that had slid from underneath him as the weight of a human suddenly disturbed the pile. 

“Bones!” Jim hurried to the newly formed hole in the pile. 

“Damn technician put me right on top of this shit,” the voice came from below. 

Jim mused that the doctor couldn’t be too badly harmed if he was still swearing, “You alright, Bones?” 

“I landed on my damn arm,” McCoy winced. 

_Oh great._

“Get me out of here,” McCoy pulled himself upright, his right arm hanging loosely at his side. 

Jim motioned for the two security crewmen to pull the doctor from the debris. 

“Easy with me,” the doctor gritted as he was hoisted out of the hole. 

The crewmen set him on his feet well away from the debris pile. McCoy used his good hand to brush debris out of his hair and off of his uniform. Jim tried to help remove the debris but stopped when the doctor hissed after his hand brushed his shoulder. 

“Did you break it?” Jim stepped back. 

McCoy gritted his teeth as he poked around his shoulder and collar bone, “Shoulder feels fine, clavicle feels broken though.” 

“Do you want to go back to the ship?” 

“No, let me get it in a sling and we can get this over with.” 

McCoy looked around to see that his med kit had fallen to the bottom of the hole with him. 

“I can probably reach it,” Sulu pulled out his sword and unfolded it to its full length. 

“Really?” Uhura eyed the helmsman. 

“If it gets the doctor’s kit back then it doesn’t matter,” Jim wasn’t having anyone’s sass today. 

Sulu laid down on the edge of the pile and managed to hook the med kit’s handle with the tip of his blade. Slowly he wiggled it further down the metal and hoisted it free from the hole. The doctor wasted no time opening the kit and rifling through the scrambled contents. 

“Damn thing,” McCoy huffed at the tricorder that refused to turn on despite the number of times he toggled the power switch.

“Let me look,” Jim held out his hand for the device. 

McCoy wanted to say something sharp about knowing how to turn the device on but his broken collar bone needed attention. He handed off the tricorder and awkwardly loaded a hypo with a vial of pain meds with one hand. The contents dumped into his carotid with a reliving hiss. 

The doctor gingerly palpated around his collarbone, “Definitely just the collar bone. Feels like a clean break.” 

Jim nodded while still trying to diagnose the tricorder’s problem. McCoy ripped open the pouch to the emergency sling with his teeth. 

“Miss Uhura, may I borrow your hands?” 

“Sure thing,” Uhura crouched down to McCoy’s level. 

“I’m gonna position my arm and I need you to put the sling around how I’ll be holding it.” 

Uhura took the fabric and shook it out from its compressed form while McCoy maneuvered his arm into position. Together they managed to get the sling on with only a few hisses from how his arm was jostled. 

“Thank you,” McCoy checked to see if the fracture worsened. 

While the doctor took care of his arm, Jim had cracked the casing apart to expose the inner electronic workings of the tricorder. Nothing seemed amiss and there was no evidence of any power surges. 

“Is your communicator working?” Jim asked his helmsman quietly. 

There were no lights illuminated on the comm when Sulu flipped it open, “Doesn’t look like it.” 

“Jamming device?” Jim finally looked around the empty square. 

It was definitely weird that the place was deserted. He wondered where all of the colonists who wanted to leave were. 

“We should find shelter sooner rather than later,” Sulu pointed to the darkening skies. 

“C’mon, we need to head indoors,” a pit unrelated to his digestive troubles formed in his gut. 

If he remembered correctly, the mason building on the other side of the city square was the local school. Being a small colony it had everything from early childhood development to what few advanced level classes they offered. 

“That should be the school over there,” Jim pointed to the building he wanted them to head towards. 

The wind had suddenly picked up and loose dirt and leaves were flitting around. He took a deep breath of the rapidly cooling air and detected a slight burnt smell to it, ozone. 

“We need to move, now,” Jim commanded. 

The captain’s sharp orders got everyone’s attention. One of the security guys pulled the doctor to his feet with his good arm and Uhura tossed everything back into the med kit. No sooner than Jim put one foot onto the intricate brickwork of the plaza, the darkened sky illuminated and a white flash of electricity arced it’s way down to the ground in front of them. The roar of the powerful lightning came only milliseconds after the bolt. 

“Shit,” Jim pulled the group closer to the side of the building. “Well that probably explains the problems we’re having with the comms and Bone’s tricorder.” 

If this was a regular occurrence then it was no question why the colonists wanted to be evacuated. Though determining the location of the colonists would have to wait until they were safer. Several more bolts of lightning arced their way into the city square. Jim looked up at all of the buildings and saw more lightning being directed to the metal rods that seemed to be sticking up from every building. 

His stomach took the time to remind him that its particular issue had not been resolved with a sharp pain. 

“The plan is still to get to that school. Hug the sides of these other buildings. They’re just local businesses from what I read in the briefing packet.” 

“Are you out of your mind?” McCoy’s fear was overriding any pain from his collarbone. 

“You want to stay out here?” a bolt of lightning struck the ground and helped make his point. “Sulu, take the lead. I’ll follow up to make sure Bones makes it.” 

“Aye sir,” Sulu crouched low and inched his way across the side of the building. 

Uhura followed with a security crewman after her. 

“After you two, sirs,” the second redshirt put himself at the rear of the party. 

“Thanks, Rao,” Jim grabbed McCoy from under his uninjured arm and pulled them along the side of the building. 

The group came to the edge of the building and scurried across to the face on the next building. 

“Jim, where is everyone?” McCoy asked, reaching the edge of the last building facade. 

“Hopefully indoors.” 

The second half of the party had to wait for a barrage of lightning to abate before they could attempt to cross to the school building. Sulu and Uhura made it across successfully and neared an entrance to the school. 

“Right behind you, Cruz,” Jim tapped the redshirt in front of him on the shoulder. “Help them get the door open when you get over there.” 

“Aye sir,” Cruz readied himself to dash through the opening between buildings. 

“Ready, Bones?” Jim turned back to look at the ashen face of the doctor. 

Cruz was nearly half way between the buildings when a bolt of lightning arced it’s way directly to this position. The man’s body convulsed before dropping like a limp sack onto the brickwork. 

“Fuck,” McCoy had already sprung to action and Jim had to yank the man’s shirt hard to get him to hold his position. 

“Dammit, Bones. Stay down.” 

“Jim—“ 

“I know, we’ll help him but wait a second. I can’t let you rush after him and get struck yourself.” 

“Jim, he’s been electrocuted. His heart has seconds…” 

“Rao, on the count of three we need to grab Cruz and pull him to where Bones can work.” 

“Aye, sir.” 

“Three, two, one, execute.” 

Swiftly, Jim and Rao ran and looped their arms under their fallen crewmate. Jim groaned as the weight of dragging an adult human pulled at his gut. 

“Inside,” Jim heaved at the door Sulu and Uhura managed to open. 

“Put him down,” McCoy was hot on their heels as they pulled Cruz inside the doorway. “I need some light.” 

Sulu tossed Jim a flashlight from his belt. The captain held the bright light steady over the unmoving man. The doctor’s one-armed movements became frantic after he placed two fingers under the crewman’s jaw. There was no mistaking the absence of a beating heart. McCoy ripped open his med kit. 

“Start CPR!” McCoy shouted. 

Rao dropped to his knees and folded his hands over his colleague’s still chest. McCoy deftly sealed an emergency respiratory mask to the man's face. The mask delivered breaths automatically and Rao continued compressions. Hypo after hypo was slammed into the redshirt’s neck. Jim let the doctor work for twenty minutes before placing a gentle hand on his good shoulder. 

McCoy stilled and pushed open one of Cruz’s closed eyes with his thumb and index finger. The pupil was blown wide from brain damage. 

The doctor sat back on his haunches, “He’s dead, Jim.” 

Jim looked around their surroundings, the building was eerily empty and had clearly been vacant for an extended period of time. McCoy opened up an emergency blanket pouch from his kit and unfolded it over the dead man’s body. 

“We need to get a hold of the ship,” Jim moved to a window to see that the lightning storm had not diminished. “Did anyone get a location on the emergency signal’s source before we left?” 

“No, Captain,” Uhura answered. 

Jim nodded; for once he wanted an away mission to be simple. 

“We’re in a school right? They should have some kind of communications abilities?” 

There wasn’t a better plan at the moment, “Alright, let’s do a quick search. Grab anything you think might be useful. Meet back here in one hour. Bones, you go with Uhura and Rao. Mister Sulu, you’re with me.” 

The small group acquiesced and dispersed. 

“You okay, sir?” Sulu asked once the doctor was out of earshot. 

“Fine, Mister Sulu,” Jim tamped down a wave of nausea. 

Sulu understood and dropped any other mention of the topic. 

“Let’s head to the second level,” Jim pointed to a set of stairs at the far end of the dim building with the flashlight beam. 

It took every ounce of self-control to quell any audible indications of pain as they climbed the flight of stairs. He was pretty sure his vice-like grip was bending the metal of the hand rail as he hauled himself up each step. Jim was nearly panting by the time they reached the top stair. He saw the concerned look his helmsman was trying to be discrete about and straightened himself up. 

“You take the left and I take the right side?” Sulu offered. 

“Good plan,” Jim shuffled off to his side of the long corridor. 

The captain estimated a dozen or so doorways stretched out down the dark corridor. Occasionally the hall would be illuminated as lightning flashed outside and the doors were open to the hallway. The first room he came to was some kind of teaching laboratory. Shelves full of amber bottles with hand scrawled labels ran the perimeter of the room while small lab benches and stools took up the floor space. He flicked his light onto one of the open notebooks on the nearest lab bench. The language wasn’t familiar to him but he could infer it was some kind of chemical experiment. Whoever was in here wasn’t expecting to be gone long or to leave so suddenly to leave their workbooks open. 

“Not creepy at all,” he gave the room a final sweep with his flashlight. 

“What did you find?” Sulu asked, coming out of the door on his side of the hallway. 

“Some kind of science lab, you?” Jim headed towards the next door. 

“I think an art studio, there were a lot of clay figures that look like something Demora would’ve made at school.” 

“Kinda weird that it seems like they left in a hurry.” 

“Yeah, I saw this in a holo once…” 

Jim rolled his eyes, “I’ll make sure the masked guy with the chainsaw gets you first.” 

“I’m pretty sure the scariest thing here would be McCoy chasing after us with his hypos.” 

Jim couldn’t help but chuckle at that image, “Well in that case I am definitely tripping you to save myself. Let’s finish up here, the sooner we get him back to the ship the sooner he’ll calm down.” 

After an hour of searching the entire away team reassembled on the ground floor. 

“What did everyone find?” Jim asked. 

“It’s the weirdest thing, Jim, everyone seems to have left in a hurry and a while ago,” McCoy said. 

“Yeah we saw that too,” Sulu agreed. 

“We found the administration offices, cafeteria, and classrooms for younger kids,” Uhura recounted what their team discovered. 

“The older students must’ve been on the second floor. We found some science labs - chemistry and physics I think, an art studio, regular classrooms, and some kind of health or medical sciences lab,” Jim was doing his best to ignore the pain in his gut as he went through their findings.

“They have a clinic?” McCoy perked up. 

“Well the briefing packet did say they only had one school building. If they taught everyone here they probably had everything from preschool to some advanced courses,” Uhura explained. 

“I remember reading that their hospital wasn’t in the city center. I guess they had some kind of associates type program?” 

Jim processed all of the information the team had recounted, “There’s no sign of anyone here at all?” 

“No, Captain, they’ve been gone a long time a long time by the state of things,” Rao confirmed. “No sign of forced removal either.” 

“Uhura, you said the distress signal was on a repeating loop?” 

“Yes, sir. Our sensors didn’t detect any subspace beacons when we entered orbit.” 

“So it’s definitely coming from the surface?” 

“That’s the likely option. I just don’t understand how they managed to make the signal punch through all the electrical inference.” 

“That means there’s an amplifier somewhere. Any chance anyone saw electronic components? We might be able to rig one up and comm the ship.” 

“I can go back and check those advanced classrooms,” Sulu volunteered. 

“I’ll go with you, I know what I’m looking for.” 

Jim’s gut gurgled painfully, “Alright, you two take Rao. I’ll stay here with Bones.” 

Uhura hesitated for a moment, “We won’t leave you alone too long with the wounded bear.” 

“So thoughtful of you,” Jim said to the group as they headed to the end of the hall. 

Jim eyed the McCoy who had a permanent grimace on his face and had begun to pace. 

_Uhura was spot on._

“You alright, Bones?” 

The bear stopped pacing, “Just fan-fucking-tastic.” 

Jim approached cautiously and put a gentle hand on the doctor’s uninjured arm, “We’re gonna be fine. Just a snag.” 

McCoy’s eyes tightened, “And now you just jinxed us you dumbass.” 

“Booooones.” 

“Don’t roll your eyes at me. How many away missions go off without a hitch and no one’s spilling pints of blood on my deck in sickbay?” 

“I don’t keep count, either way.” 

McCoy opened his mouth for some reply but Jim cut it off. 

“Now listen, _Doctor_ McCoy, we will get out of this just fine. If you’re going to be a Scrooge the entire time then I’ll go sit you down in the cafeteria and we’ll come get you when it’s time to leave.” 

McCoy was halted by Jim’s sharp tone, “Sorry, Jim. I let my anxiety get away from me.” 

Jim’s expression softened, “It’s okay to be anxious, Bones. You trust me right? I take care of my crew, you know that.” 

McCoy nodded wordlessly. 

“C’mon, let's go see if we can help them,” 

McCoy allowed Jim to lead him to the stairs. The doctor came to a full stop, “My med kit!” 

Jim held back his eye roll, “Wait here, I’ll go get it.” 

The captain bent down to retrieve the forgotten case on the floor when there was a stab of pain in his gut that was sharp enough to make his head swim and stars burst in his eyes. The groan escaped his lips before he realized the doctor had returned to his side. 

“Jim?” McCoy’s gentle hand was on his back as he braced the wall to push himself upright. 

“Fine, Bones,” Jim was breathing heavily through his nose. 

“That’s just insulting my intelligence. Your stomach still?” 

“Yeah,” Jim knew the game was over. 

“I thought I told you to come see me if it wasn’t better.” 

“Bones, now is really not the time,” Jim was unable to stand up straight. 

“Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea?” 

“Yes, yes, and no.” 

“Keeping fluids down?” 

“Haven’t tried in a while.” 

McCoy pressed the back of his hand to the young man’s forehead. There was no mistaking the searing fever, “Shit, Jim. Why did you come down here if you felt like this?” 

_And so it begins._

“It’s probably just food poisoning, Bones. This trip was supposed to be quick.” 

McCoy had already guessed this was something other than food poisoning. 

“Uh huh,” was all the warning the doctor gave before he pressed on Jim’s lower right quadrant with his unbound hand. 

Jim hissed at the unexpected pressure but buckled completely to the floor when the hand was pulled away and the pressure was released. McCoy could only do much to slow the descent with one free arm and Jim hit the floor hard and curled in on himself, protecting his abdomen. 

“Motherfu—“

“What did you do to him?” Uhura was back to see Jim writhing in pain on the ground. 

“Nothing yet, I’m going to murder this idiot soon enough though.” 

“Uh guys?” Sulu had returned equally confused. 

Rao knew better and stayed silent. 

“Did you find the amplifier? We need to get back to the ship stat.” 

“That’s why we came back down, we didn’t find one, but there should be the parts needed in one of the science labs,” Sulu couldn’t help but stare at Jim on the ground. 

“How long will it take?” 

“Unknown.” 

The fist bound in McCoy’s sling clenched tightly, “Let’s move him to that clinical classroom you guys found.” 

“What do you think is wrong with him?” Uhura asked. 

McCoy’s mouth tightened, “Appendicitis.” 

“Shit,” escaped from Sulu. 

“Yeah, tell me about it. As if our situation wasn’t bad enough, this asshole has a time bomb in him.” 

“Bones, yell at me later,” Jim tried to push himself to a seated position.

“Can you guys get him?” McCoy looked at Sulu and Rao. 

The two men looped their arms under Jim’s armpits and hauled him to his feet. Sulu winced as Jim hissed. 

“Easy with him,” McCoy instructed. 

### 

It was a slow and painful process but they managed to get Jim up the darkened stairs and down the hall to the medical sciences lab. McCoy swung the beam of his flashlight around the space and huffed. There wasn’t a single piece of electronic equipment in sight. 

_Well they weren’t kidding when they meant they were swearing off any technology._

“They could’ve at least kept the medical advancements. This setup is from the dark ages.” 

The doctor set down his med kit on a lab bench and popped it open with one hand. 

“Put this down before you put him on one of those cots,” he tossed an emergency blanket to Uhura. 

Uhura did as told and unfolded the compact mylar sheet over a low cot. Rao and Sulu shuffled their load and eased the captain down gently before righting all of his limbs. Jim turned to his side and curled protectively around his middle. 

McCoy grabbed Uhura’s arm and pulled her close, “You need to get that comm signal out to the ship as fast as you can.” 

“Yes, sir,” she understood the dire tone in the doctor’s voice. 

“Sulu, a hand next door?” 

“Yeah,” the helmsman followed out of the room. 

Rao was left to stand awkwardly next to his prone captain while the doctor surveyed the room for anything useful. Said doctors anger only increased every time he opened a drawer or cabinet and found the most outdated equipment he had ever seen. The scalpels had steel blades and the syringes all had metal cannulas attached. The thermometers were the ancient kind made of glass and full of a red liquid. The vitals monitoring capability consisted of a blood pressure cuff with a hand activated inflatable bulb and an analog pressure gauge. The closest things to an autosuturer or dermal regenerators were packets of curved needles and polymer threads. 

“Just great,” McCoy slammed shut a cabinet full of acoustical stethoscopes. “No one’s here because they probably died when they stubbed their toe.”

“Sir?” Rao turned to face the angry doctor. 

“This stuff is past ancient. The last time I saw an old-fashioned stethoscope and blood pressure cuff was in my Papaw’s display case of antiques. I couldn’t even begin to tell you how to actually work one. Speaking of antiques, where are all the lights? Can you go look for oil lamps or candles?” 

“Yes, sir,” the security tech was more than happy to have been given a task away from the angry doctor.

McCoy gave up on finding anything from the current millennium and pulled up a stool next to Jim. 

“You really know how to pick ‘em, kid,” McCoy winced as sitting down too fast aggravated his broken collarbone. “You took something fairly minor that I could’ve easily handled in an hour in sickbay and took it to hell in a handbasket. Congratulations, _Captain_.” 

Jim could only nod as a wave of pain gripped his stomach. McCoy knew he was beyond miserable and it wasn’t really the time to berate the poor kid. 

“Can you roll onto your back for me? I need to take a look while everyone’s gone.” 

“Sure,” Jim huffed and managed to roll to his back while keeping his right leg from extending fully. 

McCoy was gentle as he counted Jim’s fluttering pulse with two fingers at the radial pulse in the man’s wrist. Jim was resistant to McCoy trying to pull his hands away from the protective posture over his abdomen. 

“Jim, I need to look. It won’t feel great but I’ll be as quick as I can.” 

“Hurts,” Jim uncharacteristically whined. 

McCoy paused his movement; he truly felt sorry for the agony his friend was going through and his inability to alleviate it, even if it was his own damn fault. 

“I know, darlin’. I’ll give you what I can for the pain when I finish.” 

The doctor gave his patient a few moments to recompose himself. Jim allowed his hands to be pulled away and his shirts pulled to his chest. McCoy shoved this flashlight in his mouth and pointed the beam at his hand as it moved closer and closer to the point of pain on Jim’s abdomen. He couldn’t do his usual percussive examination with only one free hand but the rebound pain was still present when he quickly released pressure at the classic McBurney’s point. Jim yelped loudly. 

“Almost done,” McCoy pulled his hand back and awkwardly looped the earpieces of a stethoscope into his ears. 

He placed the bell on the left side of the abdomen and Jim jerked at the cold temperature.

“Sorry, sorry. Just a little longer,” McCoy moved the bell to several locations, not hearing the regular clicking and gurgling of active intestines. He righted the captain’s shirts. “Definitely appendicitis. For once you have all of the textbook signs of something.” 

“Are you sure?” Jim tried to control his breathing through the pain. 

“Well, unless you want a rectal exam to be 100 percent sure...” 

“You stick anything up there and you are permanently fired,” Jim raised off the bed. 

McCoy couldn’t help but laugh, “Just teasing, and yes I’m sure. I know it shocks you, but I was actually a surgeon _before_ I met you.” 

“Not funny, Bones,” Jim let McCoy push him back to the cot. 

Jim rolled over to his side and resumed his guarded position. McCoy took the opportunity to strike the man’s exposed neck with a hypo. He’d brought five doses of pain meds and had already used one on himself after his fall. 

“Is there anything you can do here?” 

“No, Jim.” 

Rao came back with a wooden crate full of lanterns and candles at the same time Sulu swung into the room out of breath. 

“Good or bad news first?” Sulu asked. 

“Bad.” “Good.” 

Sulu looked at the two officers, “We’ll go with the Captain’s good news first. We found a Faraday cage and Uhura managed to scrounge up the pieces for an amplifier and got through to the ship.” 

“Let me guess…” McCoy knew where this was headed. 

Sulu’s eyes dropped to the floor, “There’s nothing they can do while the lightning storm is still active, something about signals getting through. Too much electrical interference.” 

“What a surprise,” McCoy deadpanned. 

“Any estimates on how long it’ll be?” Jim pushed himself upright so he was reclining against the wall. 

“The Climate Lab estimated four to five more hours.” 

“And there’s the cherry on top.” 

Jim cut his eyes sideways to the grouch, “Enough, Bones.”

“We don’t have the battery power to keep the signal going the entire time so we’ll check in hourly.” 

“Thanks, Sulu. Take Rao with you to the cafeteria and see what the water situation is and bring up a few liters and a big pot if you can. Bones, go next door and get Uhura to help you get things to boil and treat it. I saw a chemistry lab so they should have the ability to burn things and possibly iodine.” 

McCoy would’ve been lying if he weren’t mildly shocked at Jim’s expert directions. He knew the man had done well in all of his survival training at the academy and on the away missions that went sideways, but the closest he had come to ‘roughing it’ was camping in his backyard as a kid. Cadets destined for the Medical Corps were not required to take the field survival electives at the Academy. 

“Any questions?” Jim asked. 

The group shook their heads and dispersed to their tasks. 

“Everyone find everything?” Jim asked the group when they reassembled. 

With Uhura deciphering the language on the written labels, they were able to find a bottle of iodine and a working Bunsen burner. Rao and Sulu hefted half a dozen large stock pots full of water up to the chemistry lab. Within an hour they had boiled and treated one batch of water and were working on a second pot. 

Jim’s fever had decided to climb and McCoy was diverted in trying to reduce it with some sturdy hand towels he’d found and a small basin of the treated water. As Jim’s fever rose, his awareness fell. The ailing captain became less and less coherent to the point he was barely reacting to the doctor’s ministrations and soothing words. Sensing the deterioration of the captain’s condition, Uhura checked in with the ship and was told there was no new adjustment to their estimated departure. 

“Dammit, Jim,” McCoy said as he read the numbers from the ancient thermometer he pulled from under the pliant man’s tongue. Luckily their numbers seemed to be in standard Celsius and he was able to read them. 

“Still going up?” Uhura looked over his shoulder at the red liquid. 

“Yeah, I think it’s damn close to rupturing if it hasn’t already.” 

“What do we do?” 

McCoy flexed the hand in his sling; there was no way he could operate even if they were in his nice and sterile OR. He looked around the room lit with flickering candles and oil lanterns. 

“Stuck between a rock and a hard place,” he ran a weary hand through his hair. 

Uhura stood quietly while the doctor deliberated. 

“It has to come out,” McCoy said in a quick breath. “It can’t wait any longer.” 

Uhura took a steadying breath, “To point out the obvious, but your arm…” 

McCoy squared his gaze into her eyes, “It won’t be me.” 

“Oh no, no, no,” she backed away. 

“I’m going to need two of you.” 

“ _Leonard…”_

“I need you to go find anything that says ‘alcohol’ and ‘ether’ in that chem lab.” 

“We can’t do this here! We’re not trained for this and it’s filthy here. He could die!” the comms officer hissed unbelieving what was about to happen. 

“And if we wait and the infection gets into his bloodstream he certainly will die. I don’t want to do this here either.” 

“That idiot…” 

“Hey, we’ll yell at him later when he’s _alive_ to hear it.” 

Uhura accepted her fate, “Alcohol and ether?” 

“Yes, I saw some basic surgical tools earlier. We can sterilize them in the boiling water.” 

“Sulu and Rao are going to love this,” she shook her head on the way out. 

McCoy set a comforting hand to Jim’s fevered cheek before leaving his side to find anything he could use. He pulled a plastic tote from a shelf and dumped its contents on the table and began rifling through the draws and cabinets, tossing anything he could use into the bucket to be sterilized. 

“What’s all this?” Sulu tilted the rattling basket McCoy plopped in front of him and Rao as they boiled water in the chemistry lab. 

“I need these boiled for fifteen minutes and use forceps to handle everything once they’ve been sterilized. I also need the water boiled an additional ten minutes after you pull the tools out.” 

Sulu’s face paled as he connected the dots, “But your arm, Doctor…” 

“I’ll need your help as well,” McCoy wiggled the fingers from inside the sling. 

“Help with what?” Rao hadn’t made the connection yet. 

“Uh okay,” Sulu gulped. 

“We’ll be fine. I’ve taught this operation to mealy-eyed med students, this is as simple as it gets.” 

“Operation?” Rao was beginning to catch on. “Us?” 

“Rock, paper, scissors?” Sulu asked him. 

“I think he was speaking to you.” 

“I don’t care which one of you it is, decide and come find me next door.” 

McCoy left the two men closing their fists preparing to see whom the unlucky one was going to be. 

“Found a diethyl ether and ethanol,” Uhura met McCoy in the hallway with two bottles in her hands. “Also called the ship, no change.” 

“Thanks.” 

They entered the room and McCoy immediately went to Jim’s side. 

“What else do we need?” 

McCoy looked around, “Can you push those two tables together? It’ll be easier for us to stand.” 

Uhura did as told while the doctor replaced the wet compress on Jim’s fevered brow. 

“Hang in there, darlin’.” 

Sulu walked in looking despondent, he had lost two out of three rounds, “Rao is almost finished.” 

“You’ll do fine,” McCoy stood up and gave the helmsman a clap on his shoulder. 

The doctor opened his med kit on the tables Uhura had shoved together. There really wasn’t much to work with - a few packs of gauze, a pair of gloves, another blanket, the already used emergency respirator, a pair of shears, a laser scalpel, and a few doses of various meds. He opened the bottle he thought was the ether and was met with a harsh pungent smell that made his eyes water. 

_Definitely the alcohol._

He opened the second bottle and was rewarded with the sickly sweet smell of the ether. His head was swimming after just one whiff of the stuff. The bottle was placed next to his meager med kit. 

“Can we get him up here?” McCoy motioned to the table. 

Sulu took hold of the corners of the mylar sheet at Jim’s feet while McCoy and Uhura took a corner at the head. The jostling aggravated the doctor’s shoulder and he hissed as his good side took the weight. It was a miracle they managed to get their load onto the table without dropping him. Rao dropped off the sterilized tools and went back to finish the water that he had asked for. 

“Can you cut down the middle of his shirts,” McCoy held the handle of the shears to Uhura. 

“He still doesn’t get to call me ‘Nyota’,” she lifted the fabric from Jim’s throat and slid the shears down to the hem. 

“Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll do anything you ask after this. He’s more likely to be pissed that yet another shirt is ruined.” 

As if to reiterate his point, Jim let out a painful whine. 

“We’re working on it, Jim,” McCoy soothed. 

Between the five hands they managed to get Jim as reasonably prepared as they could with getting his clothing out of the way and cutting up the remaining blanket to serve as surgical drapes. By the time they were done only a small rectangle of the captain’s right lower abdomen was exposed. 

“That’ll have to do,” McCoy nodded to himself after Rao returned with the cooled and sterilized water. 

“What’s happening?” Jim looked down at himself in a brief moment of lucidity. 

“You with me?” McCoy leaned over so Jim was forced to look away from his draped body. 

“You’re doing this here? Now?” Jim was suddenly alarmed. 

“Don’t have a choice, kid. Your appendix is leaking all kinds of nasty shit inside you that’s just going to make you worse.” 

“Bones…” 

“Jim, trust me like I trust you,” McCoy emphasized with a firm hand on his shoulder. 

“Sawbones.” 

“That’s right. You get to experience my ‘old-time’ medicine yourself. You might be the first person to have surgery done with ether in at least two millennia.” 

Jim struggled to focus on the comforting words instead of the ever present pain. McCoy dialed in another dose of the pain meds loaded into his hypospray. He needed to save as much as he could for when the captain inevitably woke up after the surgery. Jim barely flinched as the medicine was dispensed into the side of his neck. 

“You’ve sewn before?” McCoy looked at the communications officer. 

Uhura scoffed, “You assume that because I’m a woman?” 

“Actually, yeah.” 

Uhura was stunned by the man’s directness, “Uh, well yes.” 

McCoy nodded and turned to Sulu, “I’m going to need you to dose the ether and watch his vitals. Do you know how to count a pulse and respirations?” 

“Yeah,” the poor helmsman’s eyes were wide as saucers. 

“Okay, Rao - can you take that bottle of alcohol and pour it over everyone’s hands, including your own? Everyone rub your hands together well. Get all of the nooks and crannies. Wash everything up past your wrists.” 

“Yes, sir,” Rao poured the liquid into everyone’s cupped hands. 

It was awkward, but McCoy managed to use the hand in the sling to get his working hand cleaned while the others scrubbed their hands. 

“Douse this area in it,” McCoy pointed to Jim’s exposed flesh. 

“Good enough. Sulu, take a few stacks of gauze from my kit and make a nice thick pad out of them.” 

Sulu did as instructed and showed off the palm sized pad off to the doctor. 

McCoy pointed to the bottle of ether, “I need you to pour a few milliliters of the ether onto the pad and hold it over his nose and mouth.” 

Sulu saturated the fabric in the sweet smelling liquid and pushed firmly against his captain’s face. Jim squirmed at the oppressive hand over his airways. 

“Don’t smother him with it, just hold it close _gently_. He still needs regular air. Tilt his head up a bit.” 

The helmsman pulled Jim’s chin upward and eased his hand up so Jim could still breathe. McCoy motioned for him to lift up after thirty seconds. 

“Jim?” the doctor all but yelled. 

Jim turned his head to noise and McCoy prompted Sulu to replace the ether soaked pad. After two minutes of inhaling the vapor, Jim no longer responded to a hard rub to his sternum and he was deemed anesthetized enough to begin. 

“I need you to call out his pulse and respirations every five minutes. Give him thirty seconds of ether every ten minutes.” 

Sulu nodded and put two fingers to his captain’s throat. 

“Rao - open up that packet of gloves and hold it out to Uhura.” 

Uhura took in a deep breath and pulled the offered gloves over her hands. 

McCoy moved so that he was standing nearly on top of her at her left side, “Rao, can you move to the other side and hold the flashlight? Keep the beam right on her hands.” 

Rao was already moving, “Yes, sir.” 

“Ready, Miss Uhura? We'll take this nice and easy.” 

“Sure,” she hoped she sounded more confident than she felt. 

“Take the handle of that laser scalpel and turn it on using the little switch at the end of the handle. Definitely keep the blade section pointed away from you.” 

It was lighter and flimsier than she would have expected. She positioned the tool in her hand a few different ways to find grip that felt the best. Her mind was still struggling to catch up to the fact that she was about to cut into her boss, her _friend_. She shook those thoughts from her mind and powered up the blade. 

“Okay, set the tip down right where I’m pointing,” McCoy held the nose of a pointed instrument against the desired spot near Jim’s pelvis. “Lightly push the blade down. It’s super sharp, you won’t need to force it.” 

Uhura watched a bead of red blood well up at the point where she set the tip of the blade down. She could feel her hand start to quiver. 

_Oh my god that’s Jim’s blood._

“Slow and steady deep breaths,” the surgeon’s voice was calm and reassuring. “There won’t be much more blood than this, the scalpel cauterizes as it goes.” 

She nodded. 

“When you’re ready, draw the blade to here,” he pointed to a spot four centimeters up and angled away from the navel. “You just want to go through the first few layers of skin.” 

Uhura pulled the scalpel down, sickly fascinated at how the skin yielded to her movements. 

“Good, now go back to where you started and make another shallow cut. We should see some muscle after that one.” 

The next layer of tissue was sliced and McCoy put a scissor-like instrument into each end of the open wound and locked the self-retaining retractors with his good hand. 

“See those lines of muscle fiber?” 

“Uh, yeah.” 

“Separate a set right down the middle. Go with the grain. Gentle shallow cuts.” 

“I might be a vegetarian after this,” Uhura grimaced as she opened up the first layer of muscle. 

McCoy replaced the retractors in the new muscle opening and locked them open. He took a quick glance at Sulu and saw him dutifully pressing more ether to the captain’s airways. 

“Hold it,” the surgeon’s voice was sharp and Uhura froze. 

She looked down and saw her blade was about to go through a tiny red tube crossing the fibers. McCoy put two clamps on the small blood vessel. 

Uhura was handed a pair of small scissors. 

“Cut right in the middle.” 

The snip was so quiet it could barely be heard. Uhura’s heart thundered as a minuscule amount of blood fell from the new ends of the opened vessel. 

“That’s normal. Take this and tie it around each end. Give it a few sturdy knots.” 

Uhura took the offered thread and slowly but surely sealed off each end of the newly snipped blood vessel. It was hard work doing such delicate tasks in such a small and slippery space. 

“Take the clamps off one at a time and let’s see if the knots are tight enough,” McCoy clipped the excess thread over each set of knots. 

The sutures were holding and McCoy allowed her to continue cutting through the muscle fibers. 

“Hand me that with the handle towards me.” 

McCoy traded the scalpel for a pair of scissors that looked like they were for small children. 

“At this next layer the muscle grain runs in the opposite direction. Stick the scissors in between the fibers and open them up. It may take a couple of times, just wiggle them back and forth.” 

The motley surgical team managed to get through the remaining two layers of muscle fibers. McCoy had pulled the quarter-sized hole open with small flat tools. The next layer down looked like a thin rubber sheet.

“Do all of the muscles crisscross each other like this?” 

“It just depends on where you’re at.” 

“Oh,” Uhura was embarrassed at her question. 

“Don’t worry, it was a good question.” 

“This asshole owes me so much,” Uhura turned to look at the face of the man she was opening but stopped. 

“Yeah, it’s better not to look.” 

McCoy looked for her while Sulu rattled off one of his vital counts; Jim was still holding steady. 

“Just to warn you, this next part is going to be gross.” 

“So what was that just then?” 

“That was riding a tricycle, darlin’.” 

Uhura steeled herself how this situation could possibly get worse. The scissors in her hands were swapped for a set of small nose clamps. 

“This is the peritoneum. You’re going to clip just this layer here and here,” McCoy pointed. 

“There’s not a lot of room to work in here,” grabbing the thin slimy layer was more difficult than she anticipated. 

“You’re doing great, just take it slow and deliberate.” 

The communications officer furrowed her brow in concentration. A second pair of clamps was handed to her once she got the first pair correctly placed. 

“I’ll pull these up and you just make a little snip.” 

The fibrous membrane was lifted up and Uhura made a slit with the scissors. 

“Fuck,” McCoy swore when the tissues were opened. 

“Oh my god,” a foul colored liquid poured out of the opening. 

“Rao, fill up one of those big syringes with the cleaned water and have it ready.” 

McCoy took the flashlight and held it with his idle hand. 

“Goddamn idiot,” the doctor grumbled. 

“That’s not good right?” 

“Yeah that’s not good. That means the appendix ruptured. We can’t stop though; you’re going to put your hand in there—“ 

“Leonard…” 

“You’re doing just fine; you can do this. Now we really have to finish getting it out. It won’t be long before it becomes necrotic and then this field surgery will be the least of his problems.” 

“Put your hand in there and run your fingers all the way down to the end of this bit. Then pull it out of the hole. 

“Pull it out?” Uhura had enough of this. 

“Well you can’t even see it from here; you have to see it to work on it.” 

Uhura closed her eyes and stuck her fingers into her friend’s gut. She nearly gagged at the squishy and slippery feel as she slid her fingers down the viscera. 

Her fingertips felt a change in texture, “I think I have it?” 

“Pull it out gently,” McCoy widened the hole she hand her fingers in. 

“Ew, ew, ew, ew,” she grimaced as she pulled the damaged appendix free of Jim’s abdominal cavity. 

“Congratulations, it’s an appendix. A slimy bastard for sure.” 

“Please, Leonard…” 

“Easy, you’re still doing better than most med students. Rao, use those tweezers there and thread the sewing needle that looks like it’s curved. Now, just cut away this flimsy looking stuff here. Be careful not to touch those blood vessels, we’ll tie those off in a minute.” 

McCoy directed while Uhura followed. The process was slow and tedious, but the diseased tissue was nearly freed. The surgeon single handedly clamped the base of the appendix and then snipped it free. The communications officer was amazed that something not even the length of her pinky finger had caused so much damage. 

“You’re a really great teacher,” Uhura had been given the threaded needle and was being instructed how to sew stitches around what remained of the appendix. She’d never had to work so closely with the surgeon and had never really understood his talent until now. Besides some minor bumps and sprains, she’d never been around the CMO for anything serious herself. There was an abstract sense of his brilliance she got after Jim was revived, but it was different to experience it with her own hands. 

“This was my first solo operation; a girl in her teens. I was probably more afraid than she was.” 

“You, afraid?” Uhura paused her stitching unbelieving that the stoic doctor could be afraid in a medical setting. “Did it at least go well?”

“Yeah, I actually had her as a med student in one of my rotations shortly before I left Georgia. Of course no one actually does it this way anymore. Fucking barbaric is what it is.” 

Uhura resumed; there was the grumpy doctor she was familiar with.

McCoy snipped the ends of the thread once he deemed a good enough job was done and the threads were pulled tight, “Now we need to wash the ever loving shit out of this and get out.” 

The syringe of water required two hands to operate so Uhura had to flush the open cavity. After several rinses the water being drawn up seemed mostly clear and she was instructed to stitch up everything loosely on her way back up the layers of muscles and skin. 

“I’ll have to go back in once we’re back on the ship,” the surgeon explained to her, sensing her tense up to question the instructions as she tied off a loose stitch in a muscle. 

_Damn he’s good._

McCoy headed for the head of the table once he saw Uhura managing to finish on her own. He placed two fingers at Jim’s throat and reassured himself of the steady and strong pulse. He peeled back and eyelid and saw that any crystal blue was rolled backwards. The fever was still present but there was nothing he could do until he could empty his antibiotic arsenal into the man’s bloodstream. 

_Well at least something went right. Half expected this bastard to have his appendix on the other side or some other weird shit._

“Stop with the ether and we’ll let him come up. He’s going to be in a world of hurt.” 

“I think I’m done,” Uhura clipped the last bit of thread. 

The surgeon surveyed the work, “Good job. This should buy us enough time to get back to the ship now.” 

Uhura’s eyes widened, they had missed a comm check with the ship. 

“I can manage from here,” the fingers in the sling flexed. 

She peeled off the bloodied gloves she wore and dashed to the classroom with their communications amplifier. The ether didn’t take long to dissipate from Jim’s system and he began to stir shortly after Sulu stopped dosing him. McCoy quickly finished placing a loose dressing over the wound and righted the mylar sheet to cover the man. 

“Jim?” the surgeon’s hand felt blessedly cool against fevered skin. 

The stirring quickly turned into writhing. Jim’s long legs were restless under the thin and crinkly sheet. McCoy placed a freshly wetted cloth on his brow. Sulu and Rao slipped away quietly. 

“Jim? You with me?” 

Jim’s eyes rolled around under his lids before cracking open. McCoy could see the barest hint of blue in the dim lighting. 

“Over here,” Jim’s eyes tracked to hazel ones. “We got it out. Practically a textbook operation.” 

“B’nes,” Jim huffed, a tear leaking from the corner of an eye. 

McCoy could feel Jim’s pulse speeding up when we placed a hand to his jaw. His respirations were quickening as well. The doctor dialed up a dose of the pain meds already loaded into his hypospray. He couldn’t risk a full dose but he could try and take the edge off. 

“Listen, darlin’, I know it hurts but I need you to breathe deeply,” McCoy delivered the meds he had ready. “We’re going home soon.” 

“Sorry,” the tension around Jim’s eyes lessened ever so slightly. 

“I know, kid,” McCoy moved his hand up to cup the side of Jim’s face. 

“About another hour,” Uhura’s relief was evident. 

“See, what did I tell ya?” McCoy brushed away a tear that leaked from the corner of Jim’s eye. 

“The original beam down spot?” Sulu perked up. 

“Well the plaza in general.” 

The physics of time seemed to change, and the hour dragged on minute by agonizing minute as the captain’s fever and pain continued without abatement. McCoy was thankful; the only good news seemed to be that the flashes of lightning in the windows were fewer and further apart. 

“Alright, Jim, time to go home,” Jim was past the point of understanding what was going on around him. 

McCoy dosed his charge again with the pain meds before everyone took a corner of the sheet he’d been placed on and carried away from their impromptu clinic. The darkened stairs were particularly hard to navigate and the jostling caused the injured surgeon and captain to hiss or groan in pain more than once. A peek outside the open door confirmed the lightning storm had abated, and Jim was brought outside and set down on the plaza brickwork. McCoy and Uhura waited outside while the wrapped body of Cruz was brought out as well. 

Sulu flipped open his communicator, “Sulu to _Enterprise_.” 

_“_ Enterprise _, read you loud and clear.”_

McCoy had never been so happy to hear a signal from the ship. He nearly wept as the request for a beam out was approved and his molecules began the familiar disintegration in a swirl of golden lights. 

He barely had time to process the usual sense of confusion of materializing before people in white pulled him off the transporter pad. A nurse was pulling him down the corridor by his good arm; he turned around to see the captain’s stretcher hovering behind them. 

“C’mon boss,” he looked down to see Chapel was the one who had him by the arm. “Jim’s behind us.” 

Chapel unceremoniously deposited her boss on an open biobed in the main bay. The team with Jim was right on their heels and disappeared in the back of sickbay to a waiting operating room. He made a move to get up but the head nurse was back in his face before he could get away. 

“Geoff’s already in there waiting for him. You stay here,” she pointed a finger at him. 

McCoy grumbled but sat back down, he helped make that monster of a nurse. He was considering if it was safe to make another attempt to run for it but he heard the telltale squeak of a rolling cart nearby, of course it was Chapel. 

“Alright, let’s get you all fixed up,” she parked the cart next to the biobed. 

“Shouldn’t you be helping Geoff?” 

Chapel pulled apart the two ends to their newest imager and held it up over his shoulder, “Geoff said he was only going to do a clean up, Hayes should be plenty of help. What did you give yourself down there?” 

McCoy could see the simulated image of his broken clavicle on the transparent screen, “Twenty five milligrams of Toraphine maybe four or five hours ago. You know that asshole was hiding how bad he felt before we beamed down?” 

“Did you expect anything less?” she had put down the scanner and dosed him with the hypo from her cart. 

She had him there, “No.” 

“That’s what I thought. Can you hold your arm? The break is clean; should only take an hour or so under the osteo.” 

McCoy pulled his arm in and Chapel cut the sling with a pair of scissors. He only hissed once as the bones were jostled when she pulled the material free. His shirt easily yielded to her scissors and he was left shirtless on the biobed with his feet dangling. 

“Lean back for me,” the nurse raised the head of the biobed. 

McCoy acquiesced and an osteogenerator was placed over the break in his collarbone. The surgeon finally let himself relax. 

“Feels alright?” she double-checked the settings on the device. 

“Yeah,” the pain medicine and muscle relaxant were kicking in and he could feel his exhausted muscles getting heavy. 

“So how did you manage to take out his appendix with one working arm?” 

“It wasn’t me,” his eyelids were getting heavy also. 

“What?” was all he heard the nurse say before his eyes closed and he was asleep. 

### 

He wasn’t sure what brought him back to awareness but he could hear the low murmur of voices and the comforting weight of a soft blanket. 

“Hey, boss,” Chapel was in his line of sight when he opened his eyes. 

Sleep had made his mouth drier than a desert. There was a cup of water in front of his face as soon as he processed that thought. 

“How long was I out?” he asked after draining the cup. 

Chapel looked up at the biobed’s display, “About six hours.” 

McCoy was wide-awake and trying to push himself upright from the biobed. 

“Easy, tiger,” the nurse was ready with a helping hand. 

The blanket fell to his waist and he saw the osteogenerator was gone, “Why did you let me sleep that long?” 

“I know better than to wake a sleeping bear.” 

“Hey look who’s awake finally,” boomed M’Benga’s voice as he came up to the biobed. 

“How’s Jim?” McCoy tested the range of motion of his newly healed collarbone. 

“Resting comfortably in the back. The clean up didn’t take too long and I went ahead and closed. I’ve run a few regens and it doesn’t look like he’s developing any adhesions. So far there’s been minimal drainage and his fluid status is on it’s way back to normal. The infection is pretty bad but I did an antibiotic wash while I had him open and I’ve got him started on Fletexadiazole and Tetrafloxcin.” 

“Has he woken up?” 

“Yep, about two hours ago. Gave him Toraphine and Compazine.” 

“He was sick?” 

“You owe Geoff a pair of boots,” Chapel held up a clean scrub top. 

“The ether?” McCoy donned the offered garment. He swung his feet over the edge of the biobed and stepped down, stretching out his back as his boots hit the deck. 

“That and probably the antibiotics. Not surprising. Which, Lieutenant Uhura stopped by and filled us in on what happened.” 

“All of it?” 

“All of it. Quite impressive, though I think it’s safe to say she won’t be joining the Medical Corps anytime soon. Anyways, when was the last time ether was used to induce?” 

McCoy rolled his eyes, “Probably back when the dinosaurs were still upright. No other issues from it?” 

“Respiratory system is all normal. Nothing noticed in his CNS. Now, how does your arm feel?” 

McCoy stood still while the other doctor checked out the healed bone, “Feels much better.” 

“Good, you slept so long we managed to get a second session done.” 

“Want any more Toraphine?” Chapel held the hypospray ready. 

“I’m good,” McCoy was anxious to see Jim. 

The nurse must’ve had a sixth sense, “His chart’s on my desk.” 

“Thanks, guys,” McCoy was already on his way to the nurse’s station outside the hallway that contained the few private rooms in sickbay. 

McCoy was so busy reading the data pad he nearly knocked Nurse Hayes down as she came out of Jim’s room. “Shit, I’m sorry,” he caught the petite woman as she tipped backwards. 

“Hello to you too, boss,” she smoothed her uniform once righted. 

“Jesus, Hayes. I wasn’t paying a lick of attention. Are you okay?” the poor guy felt awful. 

“I’m alright. Go check on him before you have a stroke.” 

McCoy stopped himself from making the situation worse and stepped into the room. Jim was on his left side under a thin sheet, and appeared to be resting peacefully. The doctor’s eyes went to the display screen immediately. Everything M’Benga had said was accurate and the captain was doing as well as he could be. He lifted the edge of the sheet and saw the newly formed line of shiny pink skin where Uhura had wielded his laser scalpel. There was a small drainage line next to the incision that led to a nearly empty container hanging off the biobed. McCoy replaced the sheet and smoothed the wrinkles away. He knew Jim was still running a fever and he confirmed it with the back of his hand to the man’s brow. 

“Well at least you didn’t make everything the complete shit show you normally manage,” McCoy brushed away-darkened tendrils of hair that were plastered to Jim’s forehead. 

“I’m still pissed at you,” he rewetted a cloth that hung on the rim of a basin of water on the bedside stand. 

Jim let out a puff of relief as the tepid cloth soothed his fevered brow. 

“We’re gonna have words when you’re awake enough to hear them.” McCoy pulled a reclining chair closer to the bedside and sat, “There’s no reason you had to get this sick at all.” 

### 

It was two days before Uhura plucked up the courage to venture down to sickbay. McCoy’s eventual eruption at Jim was so severe it was bound to be a new legend on the ship. On her first attempt she had walked into sickbay and saw nurses huddled as far away from the back corridor as possible. It wasn’t until she heard the irate doctor’s voice booming throughout the bay she understood and then it was a quick U-turn out of the doors. 

“All clear,” she heard Chapel call out when she cautiously stuck her head through the open doorway. 

“Just checking first,” Uhura was glad sickbay was calm. “So, uh…” 

“Yeah, that one was pretty bad. Definitely a top three meltdown.” 

Uhura inched further into the bay, still on alert for an angry CMO, “How did the Captain take it?” 

Chapel had the contents of a storage bin upturned on a biobed, “Wisely quiet for once. He’s playing the remorseful prisoner hoping to get out on parole.” 

“So he won’t mind a few minutes?” the communications officer pointed to the private room corridor. 

“Have at it, he’s lonely and bored. Maybe I’ll get ten minutes without him ringing that damn bell.” 

Uhura grimaced; a bored captain was not a good sign. She found him sitting upright in sickbay pajamas and pecking away at a data pad on his lap, “Knock-knock?” 

“Hey,” Jim’s azure eyes were electric in the bright lighting. “C’mon on in.” 

“I heard it was ‘all clear’ to come see you,” she took a seat in the chair next to the bed. 

“Man, that meltdown was beyond epic. Granted I can’t say I didn’t deserve that one.” 

Uhura eyed him quizzically, other than a single IV line and a slight flush to his cheeks he looked normal. His hair could use a good combing to tame the bed head but that was fairly minor considering her fingers were fishing around in his gut only days ago. 

“Do I pass muster?” he eyed her back. 

“Depends on how you feel?” 

“Ha, I feel fine. Bones isn’t happy with this fever that won’t go away and is keeping me tethered here,” Jim lifted his IV encumbered hand for emphasis. “How are you? Spock told me you were spearheading the efforts to scan the planet’s other regions for the emergency signal.” 

Uhura thought about everything that had happened in the last few days. She was sure Jim was trying to be subtle about her overworking herself since they had beamed back. The work had kept her from having to think about what she had done to him, though she was sure Spock had been ‘enjoying’ their sharing of different vegetarian dishes with her sudden aversion to meat. 

“Earth to Uhura?” Jim interrupted her stroll down memory lane. 

Embarrassed, “Not too shabby.”

“Uh huh,” Jim clearly didn’t buy her answer. 

Chapel cut off his reply by entering with a tray in her hands, “Alright, Captain. I’m here to free you from your drain.” 

Uhura started to get up but was stopped by her captain, “You don’t have to leave.” 

“Are you sure?” she really didn’t want to see whatever was about to happen. 

“It’ll be quick and we weren’t done talking. I actually have work to talk to you about,” Jim tabbed the biobed to level itself out. “Besides, you did kinda cut my appendix out yourself. I doubt it’ll be any grosser.” 

“Ugh, do you have to remind me?” 

“It’ll be fine,” Jim hiked up his pajama top for the gloved nurse. “Besides, Bones couldn’t stop gushing about how good you were. I think he has a work crush on you.” 

Uhura tried hard not to stare as Chapel spritzed the area with some kind of spray and snipped tiny sutures with scissors similar to what she had to use on Sabine, “I highly doubt that, Captain.” 

“Deep breath,” Chapel took a firm hold of the tubing. 

“Seriously,” Jim’s breath hitched as the thin tube was pulled free. “A lot of his tirade was about how lucky I was that you were so competent since I was ‘such a dumbass’ and other colorful variants.” 

A dermal regenerator was placed over the small hole and his shirt pulled down. Jim tabbed the head of the bed to rise while Chapel disposed of everything in the biotrash chute. 

“Need anything for pain?” Chapel tabbed through the displays on the screen that controlled the IV. 

“I’m good, thanks.” 

“Buzz if you need me. I’ll bring lunch in a bit,” she tossed over her shoulder as she left. 

“See, that wasn’t as gross was it?” Jim picked up his data pad. 

Uhura had to admit that her scale of ‘gross’ had been drastically recalibrated, “Your appendix was definitely grosser.” 

Jim wagged his eyebrows, “So since you got to manhandle my intestines, I get to call you ‘Nyota’ now?” 

“Absolutely not, _Captain_.” 

Jim chuckled, “Just thought I’d try while I could.” 

“Where is Leonard anyways?” 

“Avoiding me while he calms down.” 

“You kind of deserve it…” 

“I know, and I do feel really bad about it. I honestly thought it was food poisoning until it was too late. And in my defense, we weren’t supposed to have gotten stuck on the surface in the middle of a lightning storm that scrambled any kind of signal.”

“When does it ever work out otherwise?” 

“You sound a lot like Bones there.” 

“Maybe he’s onto something.” 

“Yeah, yeah. I don’t need the both of you ganging up on me. Anyways, speaking of _you_ being onto something. I’ve been reading up on your search for that emergency signal,” Jim held up his data pad. 

“Oh really?”

“What? It’s not like I haven’t had the time. Sheesh, I’m trying to help you out. It’s the least I can do for you.” 

Uhura felt bad for jumping on his case; she nodded for him to continue. 

“I’ve been looking through your signal sweeps and I think I’ve got a code ready that can help buffer out a lot of the noise you’re getting. We’re still getting the original EF signal but somehow it’s getting delocalized,” Jim handed over his work. 

“I’ve got the computers trying to do the same thing,” she tabbed through the program. 

“I saw that, and I think it needs a bit more of a targeted approach instead of the broad algorithms the ship usually runs. Anyways, I’m just trying to help. If it doesn’t work then it won’t hurt anything.” 

The communications officer pushed Jim’s buffering code to the file she had been using to work on the signal from the planet. 

_Processing._

“I bet it will take a minute to work through such a large data set,” Jim looked through the screen. 

The last time she had to deal with his near genius level coding abilities was when he planted a code in one of the senior year simulations, the Kobayashi Maru. She watched the simulated image of the noisy signal sharpen with each pass of the program cycle until it was just a thin line. 

Jim watched with amusement as the signal reduced into a signal that was sharp enough to be fed into the triangulation software. Uhura pushed the newly refined signal to a different program that brought up the image of the planet below. 

“Did you already try this out?” Uhura was not amused when she saw his smirk. 

Jim’s smirk fell, “No, I swear!” 

Uhura pursed her lips as the circle that represented the location narrowed after each sweep. The final run of the program highlighted a five-kilometer circle in the mountainous region nearly fifty kilometers away from the town they had beamed down to. 

“Huh, I thought it’d be a little more specific,” Jim saw the wide radius of probability. 

Uhura rolled her eyes, “Yeah I know, shame on you for only ruling out 99.99% of the planet’s surface. So, _Captain_ , how do you expect us to search this area when we can’t send a shuttle down in an electrical storm since beaming down could turn out the same.” 

Jim scratched the back of his head, messing up his hair even more. “I would suggest trying to send a signal back. No use risking an away team or shuttle if no one’s home.” 

The communications officer was impressed with her peace offering, “Thank you, Jim.” 

A Southern drawl booming outside of his room cut off the man’s reply. 

“I didn’t help you,” was all Jim got out before the tall CMO entered his room with a stack of mess hall take away containers in his hands. “Heyyyy, it’s Bones.” 

“What did you do?” McCoy stopped at the foot of the biobed. 

“That hurts,” Jim dramatically clutched his chest. 

Uhura wanted no part in whatever was about to befall her commanding officer, “I’m outta here. Thanks, Jim,” she returned the data pad and moved to leave. 

“What’s that? Have you been working?” McCoy’s eyebrow rose. 

“Sorry, Doctor McCoy, I was just running a few ideas about cleaning up that EF signal past him.” 

“Is that true?” the doctor set the containers down on the bedside table. 

Uhura gave the bedridden man a pointed look behind the surgeon’s back. 

“Yeah, just bouncing ideas,” Jim knew she’d done him a solid favor. 

“You know, Nyota, if you ever want to help us out more down here…” 

“Absolutely a hard pass,” Uhura left to make her point. 

“Let me know what you find!” Jim called out to the now empty door. “I thought Christine was bringing me lunch.” 

McCoy was silent as he opened a container of broth and pushed it towards Jim. 

“Still?” Jim deflated at the sight of the liquid. 

“Just another day while we lower your antibiotics and give your digestive system time to settle after all the manhandling. You’re not exactly known for your aim while vomiting.” 

“You mean ‘woman handling’?” Jim dutifully picked up the offered spoon when his joke went unappreciated by the doctor. 

McCoy opened his sandwich and sat in the bedside chair with the container in his lap. 

Jim took a few sips in silence before he couldn’t take the tension anymore, “Do I have to play the penitent prisoner for much longer?” 

Wordlessly the surgeon reached over to a covered container on the table and flipped the lid off. Jim saw the red Jello, his favorite. All had been forgiven. He pushed aside the broth and pulled the wiggly dessert towards him. 

“Finally.” 

### 

“What the hell are you doing out of your quarters?” Jim rolled his eyes as McCoy rounded the corner at the entrance to the Rec room. “And you’re in uniform?” 

“Easy, Bones,” Jim could sense the doctor’s temper about to short circuit. “It’s just for an hour to make sure the colonists make in on board alright.” 

“Jim…” 

“Bones, I know. I’m going right back after they get settled. Let me see it through.” 

“Captain, I did not expect to see you here,” Spock joined the two men. 

“I know, I know,” Jim held up his hands. “I’m only here for an hour to see the end of this. I’m sure Bones here will start stabbing me with a hypospray exactly one second after the hour.” 

“Locked and loaded,” McCoy pulled a hypo out of his pocket. 

“See,” Jim rolled his eyes. 

“The first wave of colonists is on final approach. Lieutenant Sulu counted only 211 colonists for retrieval.” 

Jim nodded soberly, it was considerably fewer people than what they had expected. Things had snowballed once Uhura set up a response signal and they received a reply only seven hours later. The colonists had fled the city for the shelter of the mountainous region to escape a long bout of lightning storms only to never return. Their primitive society became even more bare bones with the relocation. The Federation had secured them space a few light years away on the opposite side of a massive planet with an already thriving colony with a similar charter. 

Jim had to watch all of these events unfold from the sidelines as his crew handled things while he finished healing. McCoy had been adamant he stay out of things and he wasn’t willing to risk his good behavior parole from sickbay; he was abundantly aware he fucked up hard this time despite McCoy’s inevitable forgiveness. 

“Almost an hour, Jim.” 

Jim looked at a nearby display screen to see he only had ten minutes left before he had to return to recuperating in his quarters, “I’m watching.” 

_Docking complete._

Jim let out a breath he had been holding, “So who is responsible for the mess that is their sleeping arrangements? Cots are just stacked against a wall.” 

They could hear a large group clambering down the corridor. 

“Dammit man, I’m a doctor, not a hotel—“ 

“Welcome aboard the _Enterprise_ ,” Jim greeted the dusty and weary colonists that rounded the corner.


End file.
